Nikita Boss On That Major 'Mikita' Surprise! Plus Scoop On Alex, Sean, Owen, Ryan and Division

Warning: Avoid this story at all costs until you’ve watched this Friday’s Nikita. Once you have, read on for some serious scoopage…

The CW’s Nikita on Friday kicked off its third season with everything viewers have come to expect (butt-kicking and badassery) and one thing they’ve only ever dreamed of: a ‘Mikita’ engagement!

Mere minutes into the season opener, it was revealed that Michael had a big surprise in store for his lady love: a proposal. However, his plans were quickly derailed when, in order to save Nikita and the mission at hand, he sacrificed himself and was carted off to jail for a murder he hadn’t committed.

With his stunner of a rock now in the grubby hands of a no-nonsense detective, Michael waited patiently for Nikita and Co. to break him out — which they did, of course. But our leading man just couldn’t leave without the aforementioned bling. In fact, he was so adamant about retrieving what was rightfully his (or rather, his girlfriend’s), he announced right then and there — to an in-the-dark Nikita, no less! — that he wasn’t going anywhere without her engagement ring. (Squee!)

Following a series of very sweet and stunned facial expressions courtesy of Maggie Q, Michael popped the question, and Nikita wisely accepted.

Here, Nikita boss Craig Silverstein shares with TVLine why now was the time for ‘Mikita’ to go there, whether or not we’ll see a wedding this season and, also, what’s in store for everyone else in the new (and improved?) Division.

TVLINE | Why did you decide to have Michael and Nikita become engaged now?
It was a way to underline their relationship moving forward, and underline it for people who haven’t seen Nikita before: “Oh, these two are together! They’ve been through some stuff.” They are together and have been through so much, but getting engaged doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll get married — because lots of things can happen, and will. [Laughs] But they were pretty much already engaged, as far as I was concerned. And it occurred to me that it would be a fun way to do it, where he accidentally proposes in the climax of the mission.

TVLINE | Is this season now building toward a wedding?
I’m not building toward a wedding. It’s hard for me right now to imagine Nikita in a big wedding dress. [Laughs] They just got engaged, and some people are engaged for awhile before that. What I would assume is that they are engaged, and an engagement really is a promise. They still have the rest of the Dirty Thirty to round up, so it might be better to do that first and then get married.

TVLINE | How will the rest of the gang react to the engagement news?
We didn’t want to draw it out the way that it made sense for a show like Friends to do, where we make a big deal out of everybody learning one after the other. I can tell you that one thing I lost from the cuts, unfortunately, is when Owen learns about it. It’s not in there because of time, but there’s a lot of material with it still down the line, just not that exact moment. We pretty much cover who learns about it in Episode 2. And it’s interesting how and when Amanda learns about it. We don’t specifically say this outloud, but it’s not the kind of thing that Michael and Nikita are going around advertising to everybody inside Division, because it is a symbol of freedom — which they all haven’t 100 percent earned yet. Some of those people are still working toward their severance and redemption, so they don’t want to rub it in their faces.

TVLINE | So, when Owen returns in Episode 4, it seems like he’ll be caught off guard by both the engagement and Division still being in business. Is it at all a happy homecoming for him?
It’s more a fish-out-of-water thing, because Owen has another problem that’s always been with him that we really won’t talk about until the episode where we see him again.

TVLINE | What is Sean and Alex’s status at this point?
There’s a bit more of that in the third episode. It touches on why Sean is still there, and that it has to do with Alex. He certainly is not bound legally to Division in any way. Their relationship quickly comes to a head in the fourth episode, I believe.

TVLINE | How, if at all, will Owen play into that relationship? Or is he still tied more to Nikita and Michael?
He’s a bit both and neither when he first comes in. He’s just trying to find his feet. The interesting thing is that Owen and Sean don’t cross paths until an episode further down the line, and there are reasons for that.

TVLINE | Talk a little about the dynamic between Owen and Alex when they first meet.
She is sort of cold to him and is essentially trying to do her best to interrogate him. His better and more full scenes with her are in the fifth episode. They have their own little storyline together.

TVLINE | Did you like how they played off of each other as much as the fans think they will?
We’ll see. Some of that stuff actually got cut back for time. There’s a scene at the end of the fifth episode, and I’ll be curious to see what people think about that.

TVLINE | Is it a struggle to keep Ryan likeable now that he’s in charge? Because people are going to side with Nikita, no matter what.
The big key to that is the scene near the end of the premiere, where Ryan talks to the President. We see that he’s carrying a burden that nobody else knows about and that he is trying to keep from everybody else, including Nikita, because he doesn’t want to place that on her. That’s the source of his tension, and I believe it balances out any of the initial harshness that he might have. He’s not coming from a place of, “I’m the boss, and I’m going to do this to be the boss,” it’s, “If we screw up, we’re all dead. And I can’t let you know that because it basically means you’re back where you all started.” This is a secret that he’s not able to keep for long, and when it comes out, it’s pretty explosive. But things will get better [between them] once it comes out.

TVLINE | What brings Amanda back into the fold in Episode 4?
They are looking for her since she’s one of the Dirty Thirty — she’s at the top of the list. They’re actively looking for all of them, but she’s the queen bee. Whether they find her or she comes back at them, I’m not going to say. [Laughs]

TVLINE | I kept waiting for that horrible thing you’ve teased to happen to Michael, but it didn’t. Did I somehow miss it?
[Laughs] No, you didn’t miss something! Meg, I said things are going to startgood. You’ll get a little bit of good at first.

TVLINE | OK, how long does “the good” last?
You’re going to be happy through the fall. I’m not going to say what episode it actually happens on, but I can say that it is something that Nikita does to him. That’s all I’ll say, because when you see it, you’ll be like, “Oh, I get it.” [Laughs]

TVLINE | Well, now I’m even more confused. I thought he was going to lose an arm or be wheelchair-bound.
Like Ramon? He wheels up next to Ramon? [Laughs]

TVLINE | Whatever happens, is it something that colors the rest of the season?
A little bit, yeah. That’s the story we’re dealing with [in production] now, and hopefully, it’s going to be a doorway into some other areas in the world that I’d like to explore.

I personally don’t care about age.. Just look at Buffy and Spike, one of TV’s most beloved and epic couples…James Marsters( Spike) was way older than Sarah Michelle Gellar( Buffy) and they looked amazing together!!! Can’t wait for Olex!!

oh come on guys. Think about it they want us to blog about want come happen between other co-stars on screen, but the thing is that the couples have already been paired off. you have nik and mich the you have owen and alex and then you have sean and that girl form the division so there is always going to be a couple that stays together and i think that this time it is mikita, but then this is a show and they want drama so who know but can’t wait to see the next ep.